Whitcombe / Whitscombe / Widecome

There is an entry for this Whitcombe [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SY7188/whitcombe/] [accessed 3 June 2024; it mentions neither priest nor church in it. Noted in Branes (1891): "Font: 12th century, the basin of Purbeck marble, and the central pillars are original, the small pillars later." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period [NB: C&H have "Whitscombe" as the name of the village. The current name is "Whitcombe"]. Noted in Long (1923) as a good example of "a considerable number of Early English fonts in this county [...] mostly of Purbeck marble, a fact which leads one to suppose that the majority were constructed in or near the Isle of Purbeck, and exported in considerable quantities to other parts of Dorset, and even much further afield. The type consists of an octagonal bowl, with shallow pointed arcading on the sides. The bowl is usually mounted on a thick central, and four or eight smaller detached angle shafts, standing on a low plain base." Dated in Mee (1939), Dru Drury (1949), Betjeman (1958) and in the RCHM (1970) to the 13th century. In Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font. Octagonal, of Purbeck marble, C13, with two flat blank arches each side." Noted in the Church Gazetteer [www.visitchurches.org] as "a fine 13th century Purbeck marble font". Listed in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble; "four subsidiary shafts". In Stanier (2004). Duke (2004) [www.martinstown.co.uk] notes that the four colonnettes of the base are of a later date, and remarks the similarity of this font with the one at Milton Abbas [originally from Milton Abbey], and to the shared design elements with the larger fonts at nearby Martinstown and Stinsford. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SY7165488311] notes: "Parish Church. C12 nave, with some later refacing and C18 rebuilding [...] font, Purbeck marble, octagonal bowl, each face with a two two centred arched panels, circular stem with 4 detached circulat [sic] shafts of later date, octagonal base, early C13."